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“That is the narrative, and I’m certainly taking it on the shins,” McAfee said after Watt’s ribbing amid Tuesday’s layoffs
NEED TO KNOW
- JJ Watt called out Pat McAfee over his reported $100 million salary amid mass layoffs at ESPN on Tuesday, July 21
- “Did they keep anybody, or is everybody fired to pay you?” Watt ribbed while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show
- The ESPN layoffs include several high-profile personalities like Cam Newton and Ryan Clark
JJ Watt called out Pat McAfee over his salary to his face amid the ESPN layoffs.
While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show amid the network’s mass layoffs on Tuesday, July 21, Watt, 37, took the opportunity to call out the 39-year-old host, whose reps reportedly proposed a $100 million salary last month. Former Texans star Watt appeared via video chat to accept the network talk show’s “1st Team All-Good Guy Award.”
“So slow news day over there on the ESPN airwaves, huh? I mean, besides the fact that you’re getting $100 million…,” Watt told McAfee while smiling in a clip MLFootball shared on X.
McAfee is one of the ESPN personalities that the network is keeping amid the high-profile on-air personalities layoffs on Tuesday, including NFL analyst Ryan Clark — who learned the news while on air on Monday, July 20. The layoffs come after The Athletic reported in June that ESPN was discussing an extension to McAfee’s contract totaling $60 million per year.
According to the outlet, reps for McAfee initially proposed a salary of $100 million per year, which is seemingly what Watt was referring to during his Pat McAfee Show appearance.
“You’re ticking everybody off,” the former defensive end ribbed to McAfee on Tuesday, who jokingly fired back: “Don’t do that. You’re going to lose the [1st Team All-Good Guy] award with what you’re doing.”
Watt then doubled down, however, asking the commentator, “Did they keep anybody, or is everybody fired to pay you? I’m trying to figure it out.”
In response, McAfee laughed and changed the subject to share that he is “proud” of The Pat McAfee Show‘s supporting crew.
“That’s not funny. That is not funny. We do not like that,” the ESPN commentator said of Watt’s comments. “We do not appreciate that. That is the narrative, and I’m certainly taking it on the shins. The boys and I are very proud of the work that we have done.”
Watt’s comments appear to have been removed from the version of the interview that ESPN uploaded to YouTube later Tuesday.
The ESPN layoffs include on-air personalities based at the network’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn., and a larger number of on-air and off-air employees at NFL Network, per The Athletic.
In addition to Clark, the high-profile departures announced on Tuesday include Cam Newton, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero and longtime ESPN baseball voice Karl Ravech.
In a memo obtained by PEOPLE that was sent to employees from ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro on Tuesday, Pitaro described the layoffs as “difficult decisions.”
“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN,” the network chairman wrote. “Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.”
“Even in moments like these, the strength of ESPN comes from our people, our teamwork and our shared mission to serve sports fans,” Pitaro concluded in the memo.
Read the original article on People
